MO City Looking to Rehire Retirees

City officials conducting bargaining talks with the union that involves Joplin Police Department officers have reached an agreement that would allow officers to retire and then be rehired.

The agreement hinges on City Council approval.

Details of that proposal have been discussed between city administrators and members of the police and fire unions, who "generally are receptive to the way this would work," City Manager Nick Edwards told the City Council at a work session Monday night. Details of those talks were not publicly discussed until the disclosure came at that meeting.

It would allow police and fire employees to receive benefits from the existing Police and Firefighters Pension Fund but retain their jobs or be rehired as an attempt to bolster thinning ranks in the departments and keep up experience levels.

The old pension fund is being infused by a Proposition B half-cent sales tax approved by voters in 2019 and was intended to bring the plan's funding level up to cover all benefits owed. Proponents of Proposition B said then that assuring the pension fund would be solvent with funding from Proposition B half-cent sales tax would increase retention of existing employees in the police and fire departments and attract new hires.

There are two tiers of employees in the pension fund.

One group, called Tier 1, is composed of public safety workers that started with the city before 2009. The other is Tier 2, which involves workers hired in 2009 or after. They contributed less of their own money to the fund but would receive lower benefits than Tier 1. Public safety workers approved that amendment as a measure to try to help reduce the fund's liabilities as well as lower the costs of their retirement contributions.

Proposition B provides for Tier 2 employees to move to a new retirement plan for police and fire, the Missouri Local Government Employees Retirement System. But the 2019 tax proposal did not include moving over Tier 1 retirees who were to collect benefits from the old pension fund.

After a recently completed study of the police department showed that turnover rates are high, city administrators proposed a new tax question designed to raise wages in the public safety departments. The council is to decide, perhaps at its next meeting Monday, whether to place a question on the Aug. 2 ballot that would impose a property tax and personal property tax to raise the money to fund higher wages. The proposal is to impose a $1 tax on every $100 of assessed valuation on real property and another $1 on personal property. It is estimated that would cost the owner of a $150,000 house about $285 a year and the owner of $30,000 in personal property about $100 a year.

If voters approve, it is projected that the taxes would generate about $9 million a year that city officials said would be used to fund higher starting wages and pay ranges for public safety workers.

Some, not all, police officers would see $10,000 a year increases under the plan, making $47,000 starting pay for a trained police officer and starting pay more than $44,000 for firefighters.

But the city manager said Monday night another $1.5 million would be needed to pay for the proposed transition of Tier 1 pension employees to the LAGERS retirement fund to cover their return to work if they retire and come back on the job immediately. Additionally, those who immediately were rehired would start at top of the pay range of the job they had. Those workers would no longer contribute to the old pension fund upon rehire as they had before, Edwards said.

It was not clear in the Monday discussion where that extra money would come from or when city administrators would seek the council's final approval on the plan.

The city manager said those who previously retired and apply to return would start with department head and city manager approval at a lower rank with pay midway in the pay range for a new officer or firefighter.

Around 50 employees would be eligible for the rehiring program as they qualify for retirement under the pension, according to city officials. Annual costs would vary by year depending on when employees retire, Edwards said.

There were various reactions to the proposal from council members.

Chuck Copple, a retired firefighter, said he retired from the fire department at the age of 42 because he otherwise would earn only $100 more a month on the job than his retirement benefits would pay. He has been a supporter of the proposal to rehire retirees, he said.

Phil Stinnett said he had questions about how high wage costs would get with this proposition. He also said the contention that public safety workers could continue their jobs after 20 years is contrary to what city officials were told when workers asked for a 20-year retirement. He also questioned where the city would find money to provide increased pay ranges to other city workers.

Gary Shaw said the proposal merits serious consideration. He said it is hard to substitute for experience. and with the police department, "we don't have people standing in line to get here," he said. "I think we need to keep the people we have, and if there's anything we could do and this is what it takes, do it."

City Attorney Peter Edwards said the Tier 1 proposal and pay levels at the fire department has been part of collective bargaining talks with the police and fire unions. He said there has been an agreement reached with the local Fraternal Order of Police organization to adopt the Tier 1 plan if it receives council approval.

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